Episode 199. The Girl’s Revenge (7)

Like a young bird caught in the rain and shivering, Nam Daeun trembled in my arms.

I waited just like that until Nam Daeun calmed down.

How much time had passed?

Around the time the trembling in Nam Daeun’s body, held in my arms, stopped, I lowered my head.

“Are you okay?”

“… Sorry.”

Only then did Nam Daeun gently push me away.

There was a mark on my chest, as if soaked with tears.

“Do you feel a bit better now?”

“… Yeah.”

Her eyes are still red. Tsk.

★ Heroine Status Window

[Nam Daeun]

• [ Affection: 99 ] ( + 0.1)

• [ Lust: 80 ]

• [ Appetite: 45 ]

• [ Fatigue: 50 ]

Current State: I want to keep being selfish today.

Affection 99.

It stopped here again.

As expected, I knew something more was needed for a complete conquest.

‘I want to be selfish…?’

What could that mean?

After checking the Heroine Status Window, I looked at Nam Daeun’s face.

Nam Daeun, who had been teary-eyed, was cautiously looking at me.

“Can I… be selfish today, just for today?”

“No. Live selfishly from now on, too. If it gets tough, I’ll help you.”

Nam Daeun deserves to be rewarded for everything she’s held back.

Because I’ll support her.

If you’re going to conquer someone, you should at least take responsibility to that extent.

“Then….”

“Yeah.”

“… A cafe.”

Nam Daeun looked into my eyes and quietly opened her mouth.

“… Huh?”

“You said you’d go with me. To the cafe… and to eat, and to watch a movie….”

Looking at Nam Daeun’s slightly flushed face, I pondered what she meant.

“Ah.”

And then it dawned on me.

I had been so focused on revenge that I hadn’t thought about it.

Back when Nam Daeun was still tied up by the Buyer Guild.

She had used my name, the only one she’d spoken to at the academy, as a pretext because she had nothing to talk about with her sister, whom she met once a week.

‘No, it’s not a ‘setting’. It’s a story that didn’t exist in the original work.’

An anecdote of Nam Daeun’s that came about from meeting me.

Anyway, back then, I had said, ‘If we hang out together from now on, it won’t be a lie.’

That’s what Nam Daeun was talking about now.

“Right. Cafe. Restaurant. Movie. Let’s go do all of it.”

“Yeah. Thank you.”

Nam Daeun smiled and clutched my clothes tightly again.

“… Let me repay you again when it’s over.”

“… Do as you please.”

I didn’t need to ask to know what kind of repayment she meant.

*

Squirm-

Several hours after Nam Daeun and Lee Hoyeon disappeared.

In the quiet, empty warehouse, Park Min-gyu’s corpse began to move.

“Kkeueup….”

Haa. Haa.

It wasn’t easy to keep my body completely still for hours, even with consciousness.

Park Min-gyu slowly pushed himself up, clenching and unclenching his fists.

“Kyak… Ptooey. Leaving without even disposing of the corpse, this is why rookies suck. Hoo….”

They’re rookies because they make mistakes a veteran like me would never make.

Park Min-gyu let out a ragged breath and drew the sword from his inner pocket.

The black blade, veins showing on its surface, writhed as if alive.

“… It feels unpleasant, but there’s no choice. I have to survive, for now.”

A demonization artifact I obtained through some connection.

After being stabbed by this sword, one transforms into a demon after 24 hours.

It was an item I kept as a spare life because any wounds sustained in the meantime would be healed, and I’d only just used it now.

“I’ll rip you to shreds. Lee Hoyeon… Nam Daeun. That whore….”

Park Min-gyu gripped the sword’s hilt as if it would break, venting his rage.

Having just turned into a demon, he still needed time to adapt to his new body.

The moment adaptation finished, he had to flee immediately.

“How did you know about things like this… It’s truly fascinating.”

“If Scarlet doesn’t know, then I don’t know either~.”

Just then, Park Min-gyu heard female voices from behind him, voices he’d never heard before.

“Wh-who’s there! Fuck!”

Tok-tok-

A blonde beauty and a black-haired woman in a neat suit slowly approached Park Min-gyu.

“The Korean branch manager of the Iris Guild… No. What’s the point of introducing myself to a test subject?”

“What the hell are you… Kkeueup!”

Before Park Min-gyu could finish speaking, dark tendrils shot out from the shadows, clamping over his mouth.

“Be quiet, trash. Branch Manager-nim. Take him away.”

“Yes~. Thank you. Scarlet.”

Kang Hyorin spoke while examining Park Min-gyu’s mana.

“Not quite S-Class… huh? Still, considering the rank increase from demonization, it’s borderline, but we can give him the S-Class title.”

“P-Puhah. Wait, just a moment. What is all this…!”

Park Min-gyu couldn’t adapt to his demonized body.

He barely managed to break free from Scarlet’s grasp and speak, but seeing him, Kang Hyorin smiled and snapped her fingers.

Snap-

At the same moment, Park Min-gyu’s body began to be sucked into a small bag.

“Then I’ll be taking him.”

“N-No! Stop! Please, just let me go once! I even demonized! Just this once….”

“It’s okay. We’ll let you live. We paid a decent amount, so don’t ask us to kill you. An S-Class demon should make for a long-lasting test subject, right?”

“Kkeueuk! Why are these bastards doing this to me….”

In that moment, Park Min-gyu truly regretted everything.

But it was already too late.

He would endure bizarre experiments all over his body, the kind that would make rotting in prison for life seem preferable.

He would rot for life as a test subject who couldn’t die, despite the pain, and couldn’t even kill himself.

Gurgle-

Along with the sound of a toilet flushing, Park Min-gyu was sucked into the artifact.

“I guess I’ll use it for a while before selling it. Mmm~ Nice.”

Kang Hyorin patted the bag contentedly.

“… You worked hard. Branch Manager-nim.”

“Ah, Scarlet did the hard work. I just got good material for cheap.”

Scarlet was surprised to see Kang Hyorin, whom she met while cleaning up after Lee Hoyeon’s actions.

The Iris Guild generally doesn’t interfere with each other’s work.

However, to prepare for encounters with guild members during work, they wear noticeable marks. Kang Hyorin had the branch manager’s mark.

‘How on earth did Hoyeon-nim get to know the Branch Manager?’

The request token received from Alice was purely Alice’s personal reward, so the Iris Guild members couldn’t know about it.

After all, using her status as a daughter to extort the request token wasn’t exactly a noble act.

Unaware of this, Scarlet reaffirmed Lee Hoyeon’s connections and nodded, thinking she had indeed secured a good connection.

“Scarlet. What have you been up to lately?”

“… Personal business for Miss Alice. I didn’t expect to see you here, Kang Hyorin-nim. Nor did I know you were the Korean Branch Manager.”

Scarlet and Kang Hyorin weren’t strangers.

They had become friends as two of the few young women in the information guilds, and although they hadn’t seen each other for years due to naturally drifting apart in their work, they were acquainted.

While Scarlet settled into her position as an Iris Guild member, Kang Hyorin had risen to the rank of Branch Manager.

“Hmmph. For someone supposedly busy with personal matters, you seem to be having quite a bit of fun with student Lee Hoyeon. Well, I respect personal business. Bye-bye, Scarlet.”

“… Yes.”

Kang Hyorin waved her hand and left. Scarlet, left behind, smacked her lips.

‘Did she find out?’

That meaningful smile clearly meant she knew I wasn’t focusing on work and was up to something else.

Considering Lee Hoyeon’s name came up, it’s safe to assume she knows everything.

Given Kang Hyorin’s personality, she wouldn’t gossip, but this wasn’t a good sign.

I got caught even though I was being careful when meeting Lee Hoyeon.

Even if my stealth skills are quite advanced, there’s always someone better in the world.

‘I might have to keep my distance for a while.’

Playtime is over.

Scarlet thought of Alice and slowly exited the warehouse.

*

Whether it’s a cafe, a movie, or an amusement park, food comes first.

“How much is this?”

“This… let me see. It should be on the menu there?”

“The menu? Ahaha. Huh… Just one plate of this costs that much?”

Liliana’s eyes widened as she looked at the price of two slices of raw flounder.

“This isn’t everything; it’s a course meal.”

“Ah… but it’s still expensive!”

I chuckled inwardly at how cute she looked.

After finishing the revenge on Park Min-gyu.

To lift the mood, which might have turned gloomy after the revenge, I brought Nam Daeun, Nam Dahee, and Liliana along for an outing to Pungmidang.

It was the restaurant Moon Surin often brought people to.

I had wanted to bring Nam Daeun here sometime, and now that the opportunity arose, I brought her right away.

Since the Buyer Guild was gone, it was okay to move around freely.

“Eat whatever you want. I’m paying today.”

“Thank you. Hoyeon oppa.”

“I’ll enjoy it. It’s delicious, isn’t it, Dahee-ya?”

“Yeah. Unnie, unnie. Try this too, unnie.”

Honestly, I was worried about Nam Daeun’s state, but thankfully, she wasn’t dejected.

Instead, she seemed happy thinking about being able to hang out freely with Nam Dahee now.

“Let’s go to a cafe after eating, and maybe an amusement park too.”

For the record, the amusement park idea was the result of careful deliberation between Liliana and Nam Dahee.

“Yay! Are Hoyeon oppa, Liliana unnie, and Scarlet unnie coming too?”

“Yeah. Of course.”

“Yum yum. Speaking of which, where did Scarlet go?”

“She had some personal business, so she couldn’t make it. She’ll join us later.”

I put a piece of raw flounder into my mouth, thinking about Scarlet handling the cleanup.

Mmm. It melts in my mouth the moment I put it in; it really lives up to its price.

‘What would have happened if Scarlet hadn’t been involved in this matter?’

From infiltrating the Buyer Guild to the cleanup, there wasn’t a part Scarlet didn’t touch.

Just imagining how much more complicated things would have gotten without Scarlet sends shivers down my spine.

I definitely need to repay her somehow this time.

“Unnie. But why are we going out to play?”

“Hmm… We can now. Hoyeon and I took care of everything.”

“Wow! So now you’ll play with Hoyeon oppa and me?”

“Yeah. Of course.”

Nam Daeun answered Nam Dahee’s question with a smile.

She seemed determined to make up for everything she couldn’t do as an older sister.

“So, are you and Hoyeon oppa dating now?”

“… Huh?”

“Heh.”

But it seemed she hadn’t anticipated her sister’s sudden question.

I secretly smiled, watching Nam Daeun’s flustered face.

Nam Dahee had been confined to a hospital room for a long time, unable to see proper people.

As a result, even though she was at the age to enter middle school, she had such a pure side that it was endearing.

It would be nice to have a little sister like that…

“W-Well, maybe?”

Lost in thought, I couldn’t believe my ears at Nam Daeun’s subsequent answer.

“What?”

“Ah, maybe not. Never mind then.”

Nam Daeun shoved beef into her mouth, her face flushed.

Her right hand, holding the chopsticks, was trembling.

“What? Unnie! Why did you stop talking mid-sentence! Oppa, you tell me! Are you two dating?”

“Hmm….”

I subtly glanced at Nam Daeun.

Nam Daeun pretended not to care, but all her attention was focused on us.

For the record, Liliana, not satisfied with her own portion of galbijjim, sneakily stole mine while we were talking.

Well… if Nam Daeun is going to act like this, I don’t need to hesitate.

“Yeah. That’s how it is. Dahee-ya.”

“Wow! Awesome! Unnie~! You can live at Hoyeon oppa’s house forever now, right?”

“… Yeah. I guess so.”

Watching Nam Daeun, who couldn’t meet my eyes out of embarrassment, I smiled contentedly.